Violence stops elections in Assam and Meghalaya, situation tense

Assam and Meghalaya have gone one step further in their bid to become the odd states out. Eleven of the two states' 16 constituencies are having no elections this week.

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December 23, 2014

ISSUE DATE: January 15, 1980

UPDATED: December 24, 2014 15:57 IST

Assam and Meghalaya have gone one step further in their bid to become the odd states out. Eleven of the two states' 16 constituencies are having no elections this week. This was decided as hordes of militant agitators kept vigil at election offices for days together, so that none could file his nomination. Prospective candidates were often detained at their homes until they promised not to contest.

While the election fever escaped 10 constituencies in Assam and the Shillong constituency in Meghalaya, the situation in the two states remained tense. Last month, in a daring highway hold-up, three persons including a sitting MLA of Meghalaya and a former MLA were killed and another MLA was injured. The assailants reportedly chased their quarry from Shillong and sprayed them with light machine-gun bullets at a hilly bend of the road near Boko, in Assam.

One of the victims is Manik Das, an influential Congress-(I) leader of the Garo Hills district in Meghalaya. Das, who was generally regarded as the right hand man for Williamson Sangma, the elder statesman of the Garos, had also been the main prop of the Congress (I) candidate in Tura, the only constituency in Meghalaya where election is being held. Moreover, being a Bengali legislator, Das is the target of wrath of the Khasis, many of whom think that "outsiders" do not have any right to participate in politics in their state.

Down below in the Brahmaputra valley, there was no dearth of violence. A Bengali speaking doctor was killed by a mob in the campus of Gauhati Medical College. In equally senseless mob violence at Bhabanipur, an Assamese student was killed.

Offenders: Meanwhile, there are indications that the Union Government is seeking a permanent solution to the problem of "foreign nationals" infiltrating into Assam. An early enquiry has shown that there is at least some truth in the charge that the administration in neighbouring West Bengal is extremely careless about distributing Indian citizenship certificates.

Hundreds of people have been detected who, after their illegal entry into Assam, had been deported into Bangladesh. From there they sneaked into West Bengal, secured Indian citizenship certificates often in violation of rules, and then got back into Assam. The officials in West Bengal have often issued certificates prior to the statutory waiting period of six months. In many cases, the certificates have been issued by officials below the rank of deputy commissioner, which also violates the established rule. The offenders, in most such cases, are the officials at Dinhata and Tufangunj two sub-divisional towns in Cooch Behar, the West Bengal district on the Assam border.

The Bangladesh nationals who have got such certificates are mostly Bengali-speaking Hindus; and the prevailing sentiment in India tends to favour them. Unlike the Bangladesh Muslims, the Hindus from across the border soon fan out all over the state, and thus avoid the creation of conspicuous pockets. But they are foreigners all the same.

Said an official of the Union Home Ministry: "The emigration from Bangladesh will not stop until Dacca has flushed out its entire minority population."

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